Mini Mama Journals

Make a mini one-line daily journal to reconnect to what you really need each day, and to remind you of what really matters.

Click on 'read more' below to follow the simple instructions to make your own mini journal. Then take just a minute or two each evening to write in it.

What is it that you wish you had more of in your life right now? Make that the focus of your journal.

It's amazing how the action of consciously and regularly recording precious moments each day can help you first to notice them, and then to make more of those moments and feelings happen.

So if you wish you had more moments of rest, use your journal to record three restful moments each day. If you want more joy, note down three joyful moments, or three things that you were grateful for. If you'd like more self-confidence, use your journal to capture three small things you did that you were proud of each day.

We're not looking for huge achievements or epic shifts each day, we're simply noticing the tiny moments, that over time, add up to something wonderful.

Share a photo of your journal below, and if you like, tell us some of the moments that you have recorded.

If you'd like to make one with us, join us on twitter for our #somum Make Date on Wednesday 9 September from 8.30pm to 10pm UK time.

instructions

You'll need an A4 piece of card, and 4 sheets of A4 paper.

You'll also need some way of joining your pages - this could be a needle and thread, a hole punch and a ribbon, or a skewer and some string, whatever you have to hand will do! And some glue - a pritt stick works well.

Follow these instructions to make your own mini journal - illustrated with pictures below...

Pile up your A4 paper pages on top of each other and fold the pile in half, width-ways.

Holding your pile of papers folded in half, get ready to trim the folded side: you're basically aiming to cut these all into 8 slightly-smaller-than-A5 pieces. So snip it all across, one centimetre in from the longer/folded side

This leaves you with 8 rectangles, and a small 2 cm strip with a fold in the middle to discard.

Pile your 8 new rectangles on top of each other, and snip another 2 centimetres off the shorter side of these - which now makes all of these about 1 centimetre smaller than A3 all the way around.

Keeping them in their lovely tidy pile, fold the pile in half again - and well done you, these will become your book pages.

Have a quick check that they are in the colour order that you'd like them to appear in your journal... And it's time for some page-joining...!

If you go for sewing them together, grab your biggest needle and sew a few large stitches along the middle fold to hold them together.

Make sure you start from the outside so that you can tie the thread together on the outside of the pile of pages rather than the inside. You might also find it easier to make three equally spaced holes along the fold with your needle first.

You can do the same thing rather less elegantly with a skewer or something sharp with which to make three holes, and just fiddle some string through the holes, tying it together at the back again.

NOTE: If you'd rather use hole punch and a ribbon, then wait until after the next stage before you connect your pages.

Next, fold your piece of A4 card in half, and cut this down the middle. Fold it again, and it becomes your book cover.

Then cover the entire outer page of your wadge of book pages in glue.

Place the glued pages neatly inside your folded piece of A4 card, (hiding the string or thread between the card and the paper) and flatten this down (using a firm cash card or equivalent to push it flat works well...).

Because of all our clever trimming above, the paper should be smaller than the cover, giving you a lovely inner border.

If you're going for the hole punch and ribbon option, now's your chance! (This is the more little-kid-friendly option...!) Punch two holes in the middle fold and pull your ribbon through, tying it on the outside with a flourish...

And ta-dah! your Mini Mama Journal is good to go.

Have fun decorating your front and back covers, and if you want to get even more fancy, you can play around with trimming the individual pages inside to make some lovely effects like these:

It looks much more complicated than you think! It works best if you have a mixture of different coloured pages inside.

All you need to do is draw and then cut your design out of the first page in your journal, and then use that as a template for every page below that, leaving a little border each time you cut the shape into the page below. Ooh fancy!

Or you can go as simple as possible (again, good for kids) and just cut a big corner off the top page, and a slightly smaller triangle from each subsequent page, like the one below:

When you've made your journal, start using it...

And you can share a photo with us by clicking on 'join in' above - we'd love to see it! If you'd like to share one of your entries with us, we would love to read that too.

Think of what you'd like to notice, appreciate and experience more of, and have a go at capturing a month of precious moments.

Here are some ideas for journals you might like to try for a month each :

Gratitude - three things you are grateful for

Joy - three joyful moments from your day

Rest - three restful moments from your day (did you pause for a moment to catch your breath, have a stretch, or stop to drink a hot cup of tea...?)

Courage - three brave moments from your day (these don't have to be wild acts of courage - it could be something as small but significant as saying no, leaving the house, or starting a conversation at a bus stop - whatever feels brave to you)

Self-Esteem - three things you did well each day (again, it's small moments that add up - managing to stay calm in a moment when you feel like exploding, accepting a compliment instead of shaking it off, getting a job done - it's about noticing the things you have achieved instead of focusing on those you haven't).

Self-Care - three things you did to take care of yourself each day (drinking water, stretching, getting an early night, putting your own needs first...)

And anything else you can think of...

And if you fancy having a go with your kids, here's one my daughter made!

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